


Of fate

by Maksim3l



Series: Pollyverse'n'fluff [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Roller Coaster, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Forced God Of Creation Inktale Sans (Undertale), Forced God Of Destruction Errortale Sans (Undertale), Gen, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Physical Torture, Psychological Torture, Tags May Change, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:28:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28904157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maksim3l/pseuds/Maksim3l
Summary: Destruction/dɪˈstrʌkʃ(ə)n/nounnoun: destruction; plural noun: destructions1.the action or process of causing so much damage to something that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired."The destruction of the rainforest."Synonyms:Demolition, tearing down, levelling, razing (to the ground), felling, dismantling, breaking up, wrecking, ruination, smashing, shattering, blasting, blowing up, devastation, spoiling, blighting, marring, disfigurement, impairment, defacing, scarring, injury, harm, laying waste, desolation, ravaging, wasting,the action or process of killing or being killed."The wanton destruction of human life."Synonyms:Annihilation, wiping out, obliteration, elimination, eradication, extinction, extirpation, killing, slaughter, slaughtering, massacre, massacring, butchery, butchering, extermination, decimation, taking out, rubbing out, snuffing out, zapping, wastinga cause of someone's ruin."Gambling was his destruction."2. (rare)a group of wild cats.
Relationships: Big poly pile, Polyamory - Relationship
Series: Pollyverse'n'fluff [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119806
Kudos: 7





	Of fate

"No Puppet Strings Can Hold Me Down,

So Patiently I Watch This Town,

Abnormal Soon Will Be The Norm,

Enjoy The Calm Before The Storm."

—Bill Cipher, Gravity Falls

Milky white endlessness. 

It stretched on for an eternity. 

No end in sight, wether you looked up, down, left or right it greeted you with all of its colourlessness. In this place, where the ones that were never meant or deserved to have been forgotten, are once again, remembered. Minds broken from misuse and abuse once again put together, fragile as they were, but together non the less.

It has a sibling, its yin.

The place of yin is a place of pitch-black darkness. Devoid of any light and just as colourless as its opposite. Here, the remembered are forgotten, torn apart and broken beyond repair. Fragmented and scattered across time and space never to be seen again. 

Before the still recollected soul is forgotten, they are evaluated. Evaluated on what they were, what they could have been and what they would become if they are left to be remembered once more.

The yin part of the balance is called The Void. It sits below The Anti-Void, and underneath the yin, once again, sat yang. Forever locked in an endless dance of balance: to be remembered or to be forgotten. Even if it looked like a different place, it was always the same one. Everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time.

Few deserving souls are given a second chance to be remembered, for better or for worse, for a purpose or none.

H _e_ was one of the lucky and unfortunate ones that deserved a second chance.

A black skeleton, with faded blue tears stains running down hi _s_ cheek

bones laid in the Anti-Void, slowly coming to after everything _h_ e went through.

Memories fragmented, mind shattered but slowly coming back together, forming thoughts. The only thing left intact for the skeleton was muscle memory.

_H_ e woke up quietly, mismatched eyelights glancing around unfocused. H _i_ s brows knitted together as _h_ e tried to figure out where h _e_ was. Slowly, _h_ e tried to get up, using hi _s_ hand as supports to lift h _i_ s face off the ground to look around the unending brightness.

'Weren't-'

'Was _n'_ t h _e_ suppose to be gone..?'

'W _a_ sn't... 

_H̸̱̱̲͉̺͙͂̏͒͊̈̎͝_ ȩ̸̧̠̼̯̙̺̙̲̬̩͙͈̖̔̍͐͜... 

suppose... 

to be... 

**D̴̳̠̳̟̼̱͔̂͌̾͜͝ę̶̧̳̺͓̜̫̺̬̆̌̍̽͜͠ͅẠ̸̱̥͍͚͎̼̅̊̚ͅͅd̷̨̮̜͈͉̘̟̤͙̺̖̠̒̆̓̀͜ͅͅ?**

'...'

'That doesn't matter right now...'

And then it hit _hi_ m. 

Suddenly h _e_ crumbled back down onto the snowy white ground with a pain-filled groan.

A scorching sensation spread throughout hi _s_ bones, starting in the centre of h _i_ s chest, where _h_ is soul resided. It slowly crept throughout h _is_ body, into every nook and cranny of his existence, bringing with it horrible nausea. With it also came a chilling feeling, making the pain worsen. The feeling of being boiled and frozen alive at the same time merged with the feeling of needles poking at every angle. It made it feel like this was all some sort of sick experiment, as the pain became even more unbearable.

But for some reason, even if h _e_ was supposed to be considered lucky, that wasn't the worst of it. Physical pain is unpleasant, yes, but in the grand scheme of things, it's easier to deal with than emotional pain. That of which comes from within the mind, and the soul. You can always find a means to escape or ignore physical pain. On the contrary, emotional pain is inescapable, following you where ever you go. Try with all your might unless you want to die, you can not escape. Only dull it... 

And the feeling that came with the pain made the experience truly unforgettable to the skeleton.

The feeling of pure soul-crushing DESPAIR flooded _h_ i _m_.

Slowly, small flakes of dust fell off of h _im._ At first, it was only small grains the size of sand, but after a while, they came off in big ash like chunks. It started to spread onto the floor and into the air around _h_ im.

Hi _s_ confusion was neverending, as questions begin to flood h _i_ s thoughts.

'Where was h _e_?' 

'Why was _h_ e here?' 

'What is this place?' 

'Why did everything hurt?' 

'Who was h _e_?'

But just as quickly as _h_ e got these thoughts, they disappeared, with one clear statement staying in hi _s_ mended mind. 

'It didn't matter.'

H _e_ was as good as dust anyway.

The overwhelming feeling of melancholy greeted h _i_ m. Hi _s_ head and body started to grow heavier, feeling like they were slowly being filled with a lead.

Yet, at the same time, _h_ e also felt like h _e_ was floating on clouds. Wanting nothing more than to just close _hi_ s eyes and let it all end. To let the constant pain be a horrible lullaby for h _im_ to fall asleep to.

Slowly h _e_ turned to lie on _h_ is back. Needles pricked _hi_ m from all sides as every movement jostled his body parts and making hi _m_ get hit with wave after wave of pain. Steadily h _e_ lifted h _i_ s right flaking hand so that h _e_ could see it in front of _hi_ m. Leisurely it's counterpart joined it.

Then h _e_ stared at them. They moved when he wanted them to, did everything _h_ e commanded them to, yet they felt off. Was it the colouring? Was it their heaviness? H _e_ had no clue, all of this, this situation, this body, this place. Everything felt off. Something deep in hi _s_ soul told _h_ im so, told h _im_ h _e_ wasn't supposed to suffer like this, _h_ e wasn't supposed to be in this place. Yet, as h _e_ took a glance around, h _e_ had a feeling like this is the best h _e_ 'll get. 

Oh, what did it matter? 

H _i_ s skull started to dusting moments ago and _h_ i _s_ soul is following suit, as it slowly broke down into tiny fragments of itself. 

It will all end soon.

_H_ e didn't want to die. But it wasn't a choice h _e_ was at the liberty of making.

And so _h_ e closed h _i_ s eyelids. With the pain slowly dulling, the only thing that stayed was the constant feeling of despair.

And so _he_ dusted for the first time.

.

.

.

When he came to, he was no longer dusting. And the neverending pain also left. The feeling of despair was still there, but not as prominent as it was the first time he was awake.

Now that he could move without feeling immeasurable pain, he checked himself over.

Bringin his no longer dusting passages up to study, he realised that everything was still blurry. Before he chalked it up to him only being disorientated form the pain, but it looks like he'll need glasses- 

'Wait...'

'What even are glasses? And why do I think they'd help?' he questioned in his mind and accidentally out loud as well.

"OH! I know what those are! They consist of glass or hard plastic lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes! They help you see things if you can't see things clearly from far away or close by! They're pretty neat!" Informed a disembodied voice, from no place in particular.

He flinched at the sudden noise, bringing his hands to his cheeks on instinct, even if he didn't know what he was doing or where the perceived threat was. 

"WhO..?" he said in a small glitchy voice filled with anxiety.

"I have no clue, buddy. I only know that I am and that I exist like the others." they quickly supplied.

"Yano, I've never before seen someone, that can hear us and has an actual physical body." said the bubbly voice that assisted with the glasses situation.

"Yeah, you're a real weirdo kid." quickly added another voice, this one with a confused undertone.

"Um... Don't mind us, just continue doing the things that you were doing, or don't... " said an inquisitive voice.

"OkAy..." Said the dark boned skeleton, looking around with just as a confused expression as when he woke up.

He started to pat himself down to see if he by chance had some glasses on him. Luck was on his side, as he found a pair of glasses in the left pocket of his coat, along with some tape. He went to put the glasses on- and they fell off. 

"The tape ya dofus." said a snarky voice, clearly questioning his intelligence.

He made an 'o' expression, as he quickly tore off two pice of tape and applied it to each temple. Bringin the big round red glasses up to his eyelights, he stuck the strips of tape to his skull on each side. Looking around the endless whiteness didn't make much of a difference. But when he looked down at himself, he realised on a side note that his footwear were flip-flops for some reason, and also that he was no longer blurry. He mumbled a quick 'Thanks' to the snarky voice that pointed the tapes use out to him.

Bringing his hand up for examination for the third time, he once again got the feeling, like they were his, but not h _i_ s. It put him in a bit of a weird mood as he felt disconnected from his own body, deciding he didn't like this feeling. He shakes it away as quickly as it came and immediately stands up to look around. Endless almost glowing but yet ominous whiteness surrounded him, making him the only remotely colourful thing in the vicinity.

"Welcome to the Anti-Void buddy, a place of wonder, adventure, endless voices and friends to make and new experiences to share with your disembodied buddies!" said the newly dubbed "Glasses", at least that's what the skeleton named them since they didn't tell him their name.

"OkAy-" "Yo, what's with the glitchy voice homie?" said a surprisingly high pitch voice that tried to sound like it was tough.

"I doN'T knoW WHaT yoU'Re Talk-KInG AboUT?" Said the glitchy voiced skeleton.

"You sound all frazzled, like a broken record." Said the same voice.

"I don'T kNow hOw To reSPOnd tO ThaT... iT's jUst lIkE tHaT? Is it NoT NoRMal?" He asked, his right arm grabbing his left by the elbow. Concern and confusion made their way onto his face.

"Well-" "While it is quite a curious occurrence that your voice is in the state that it is, this is a rude question to ask our new guest right after he awakened for the second time. So I ask you that you apologise to him. Immediately." Said a cutthroat voice while cutting the other off, it sounded like the owner was some high-class know it all, that also demanded a high amount of respect.

"It'S FinE. iT WAs juSt a QueSTion, no HaRM, no FOul..." The dark glitchy skeleton quickly stated, and added on, "Can aNYone TelL Me HoW to GEt ouT oF HEre?".

"Oh, right... You were kind of... out of it... when... we told you the things... we were asked... to inform you of..." a shy voice whispered, concern clear as day. However, as quiet as it was, everyone heard it. Thusly prompting many questions to be thrown the errors way.

"OH yeah! Are you okay??" "Do you need healing?" "Why were you in so much pain?" And many more questions littered the air. Some mundane, "Oh, I absolutely must know, what's your favourite colour??? You're so colourful that I can't guess!", others way too personal "Do you have a family? Oh! Do you have kids?? How's your sex life?? Ever tried-". 

Some weren't even questions, as some voices tried to start conversations with the skelly "I hope you aren't feeling too _blue_ about the situation, but you better be _red_ -y because now, _yellow_ never hear the end of it! _Black,_ when you passed out, everyone was freaking out for a while. I'd _white_ it out if I were you." Punned a comical voice, with a classic British accent.

To say that the glitch wasn't overwhelmed would be a big lie.

At first, he tried his best to keep up with it all. That, however, didn't work for long. So, next, he slowly tried to get away from the voices. The voices, however, are disembodied and everywhere yet nowhere at the same time. So that did not work out that well for him either.

By the end of that his glitching started to increase. More and more error signs popped up all around, suffocating him. Slowly his arms were brought up so that he could hug himself and try to gain some comfort. That didn't work for longer than a moment. 

As the voices filled his head, it caused a headache to start, that only worsened as ringing joined it. A migraine was most likely beginning to develop.

He was trapped, body locking up making him unable to move as the voices closed in, encircling him. He hugged himself tighter as his magic unconsciously reacted to bring the hood of the hoodie up to cover his shaking skull. The familiar feeling of lead filling his bones. He thought he was dusting again, legs almost giving up on holding him upright any longer. More and more error signs started to float around him as his sockets got overtaken by them, making him as blind as a bat. 

He tried to stifled a sob as neon blue tears started to run down his cheeks.

Shaking increased as the need to hide, to retreat climbing higher and higher. Breathing came difficulty for him and he started to sway on his feet.

The disembodied voices continued talking, not noticing the glitchy skeletons oncoming panic attack at their loudness. Nor did they see error signs replacing his eyelights, at least, that's what it sounded like. However, the accidental instigator of this interrogation noticed the change, since they did not join in on the barrage.

"Guys...?" Said the wispy voice, of course, no one noticed them. Instead, it sounded more like the voices started to gain in volume.

Seeing as they weren't heard, they tried again "Guys..."

This time, someone did notice. Snapping back to reality and seeing what they were doing along with every voice else. It made them cringe at themselves. Sure, they were excited, but they didn't mean any harm!

"Buddies!" They tried to get everyone's attention. A few snapped back to reality at their voice and quickly quieting down, but it wasn't enough. Sadly others started to talk even louder, trying to be heard over the rest. 

The volume quickly climbed. It started to sound more and more like screaming.

'Too much.'

'Too much! Stop!'

'Too mUch! PleaSe stOp!' he begged in his mind.

But nothing changed.

'PlEAsE StOp, GeT AWaY!!!' He held onto the sides of his skull for dear life, trying to lessen the noise by covering his earholes, it didn't help.

And then all of his movement stopped. His breath stilled as his arms fell to his sides. His expression changed from panicked to perfectly neutral, the only thing left to look at were pools of red, that his eyelights left behind. Surprisingly, he didn't fall over, but his posture did slouch.

The tears, however, stayed.

Two voices suddenly boomed over the others. They had had enough. "BUDDIES!!" and "HOMIES!!!" was heard clearly over the rest of the voices.

Everything was quiet in a moments notice. No one dared to speak up after they noticed the condition of the skeleton.

Finally, an opportunity to be heard.

"Guys...?" They tested it out, to see if they were about to be once again suppressed by the loudness of the other.

The quiet, however, held firm. Guilt overwrote every need to be heard, to be seen again after so long.

"I.. I think he had a panic attack..." they quietly pointed out.

"Yeah, you're probably right little buddy..." confirmed the once bubbly voice.

"How the everloving fuck did nobody notice?? Except for the person who started it?!" Said a voice with an Australian accent, guilt hidden in their angry voice.

"I... did not think this outcome would happen..." Said the cutthroat voice, this time much quieter since their last remark.

"Did we break him?!?!" Exclaimed a childish voice, probably no older than eight.

That made a few voices chuckle. It was such a childish thing to say, but it somehow held the power to break the tension between the other voices.

Suddenly a text box popped up, black with white text. It shared similarities to a command prompt window. It read "Error_MainSystem.exe stopped working" Just like a computer when it overheated. Or a game repeatedly freezing before it crashes.

A burst of laughter sounded out.

"HAHAHAHA! H-He...e.. PFF- HE F- HAHA- FORKING CRASHED!!! LIKE A GODDAM PC!!! HAHAHAHAA!!!" They laughed with absolute hysteria in their voice like it was the funniest thing they've ever seen. A few snickered at their hysterical laugh, but no one joined them.

"What about this dam situation can possibly be found so funny to you?!" Barked a voice, who shared the opinion of many.

The other, of course, quickly tried to elaborate "HAHA! EVERYTHING DUDE! _like a pc_ PFF-" but they were too preoccupied with laughing, to give the other the explanation they demanded.

The angry voice was not pleased "Why you little-" they started.

"PEOPLE! Now is NOT the time for bickering! You dam, egotistical assholes! Put others in front of yourselves for ONE. DAM. MOMENT!" Intervened the snarky voice from before, yes, the one that helped with the tape.

"Guys...? Are we going to press the button..?"

During their argument, the text changed. It added another string of words "Waiting for soul signal to reboot." the line "Reboot?" followed it. Two buttons appearing underneath it, "Yes" and "No".

"Wait a minute!"

"How the heck are we suppose to press it?!" Asked a distressed voice.

As the voices once again descended into an argument. A child's voice decided they wanted to help the skeleton. They thought he looked nice! And they finally weren't alone because of him! Plus he looked super cool!

They are filled with Kindness! They wanted to share this kindness with the crashed skelly that stood there unblinking and unmoving. 

And so they did. A light green glow settled around the "Yes" button as it pressed down with a "Clink".

Then the previous box disappeared, replaced with another identical one. This one read "Rebooting shortly..."

"Guys! Guys, look!" The eight-year-olds voice screamed in excitement at their accomplishment.

The argument came to an abrupt stop at the child's scream.

"Little buddy! How the h- ?! How??? How did you do that!?" asked the once again bubbly voice, completely miffed at the situation.

The child stayed quiet for a moment, as confusion spread among the voices. "I just wanted to help him! And, and share my kindness with him!" They stated as tho it was the most obvious thing in the world.

A few voices awed and cooed at the child's adorableness. One voice decided to state it louder than the others. "Well aren't you such a dear?" they said, and quickly added, "Wish I thought of that!"

Then the floating boxes text changed to "Repairing anxiety meter..." that swiftly blinked to "Setting anxiety to a fixed amount..."

A few voices made an audible "Oof." sound as it shifted, guilt back just as quickly as it left.

The box once again disappeared. Its replacement was yet another identical text box with the set text "Checking mental state..."

The voices stayed quiet, as they waited for the box to change again, and it did. "Fetching emotions..."

Then it completely disappeared for a few moments. As they waited for the skeleton to awaken, they started to get more and more concerned. 

"Shit! Did we actually indirectly kill him?!" Said a particular anxious voice.

When their concerned started to spiral into anxiety, another box popped up "Finalizing reboot, please do not slap awake and give personal space for optimal start" It finally stated.

A few voices snorted, and others started to giggle softly at it.

Then that box too disappeared, and another one, with simple white centred text, appeared. It had an animation under it for entertainment.

"Rebooting 2%..." 

|

Soft murmuring filled the air, as the voices decided to talk to each other to pass the time and get some much needed new friends. They were very thankful to know that they weren't alone like they had originally thought they were.

"Rebooting 9%..."

/

"Rebooting 12%..."

\--

Childish laughter was the most prominent, as friend starved kids finally had someone to play around with, even if the most they could do is tug at each other's souls with their own, it was enough to no longer feel alone.

"Rebooting 17%..."

\

"Rebooting 21%..."

|

If you disregard the loud laughter of children, you'd hear bantering of teens, adults and elders. 

Laughing away at their generations inside jokes, making new inside jokes, and just goofing around like they were kids again. Such a calm and peaceful atmosphere filled the Anti-Void. It would most likely look like the place was sparkling with happiness, had it not been completely coated in white.

"Rebooting 25%..."

/

"Rebooting 33%..."

\--

The Anti-Void was also happy. Finally, these souls could get the chance to heal properly.

"Rebooting 38%..."

\

"Rebooting 42%..." 

|

.

.

.

The calm talking persisted throughout the whole rebooting process, making time fly by if there was any.

"Rebooting 74%..." 

\--

"Rebooting 83%..." 

\

Slowly the kids quieted down, as they got tired from playing around so much. However, they were still eager to thank the reloading skeleton, and learn his name.

"Rebooting 97%..." 

|

Finally, the box read:

"Rebooting 100%..."

/

And then it disappeared as soon as it reached its target number.

His eyelights flickered on, like powering on an old computer. His stance finally being more lively than a stone statue, as he slowly lifted his head from its slight downturned resting position.

"..?" he slowly started to register the world around him and how quiet it now was. Why had he fallen asleep? Can sleeping while standing up even count as propper sleeping?

Then he swiftly brought his hands to his chest. Hunching himself forward and hugged himself. He felt very vulnerable all of the sudden, as memories of what happened replayed in his head.

Softly a voice greeted him "Heya buddy, you doing okay?" they asked.

He visibly flinched away from where he thought he heard the voice but after a bit of time, he replied quietly "...'m fIne GlaSseS..."

"Glasses?" they asked, just as soon as it registered that they were being called that.

"I-I mEan, YoU heLPed Me wItH tHE gLaS$es..." he stated.

Only then did it finally click, that it was a reference to their first meeting "Ohhhh! That makes sense bud!"

"Hey, homie uncool! I want a nickname as well!" said a pouty voice.

The skeleton froze "U-uhH..." He has absolutley no clue on what to call the voice. "C-CaPone?" he presented the name. Which instantly won a reply "That's an epic name homie!" that remark made him uncurl and bring one of his hands to his lightly stained cheeks. After he whipped the new tear stains a bit, they returned to a duller tone. With the annoying feeling of having tears stains on his cheeks dealt with, he straightened his back a bit tho still hunching forward a bit.

"Tsk...Just woke up from whatever that was and ya'll already trying to befriend the poor kid." Said the snarky voice.

The skeleton gave a small smile "YoU'lL be TEpo."

The voice muttered under their breath about how it was 'pointless' and 'they weren't friends', but liked their given nickname non the less.

"Do me next Mr!" exclaimed an excited 8-year-old

The glitch scrambled for a name for the child "EboNy?" He was answered by and excited squeal

"Me too! Me too!" another child yelled

"SepiA"

And it continued like that for a long time, coming up with random nicknames, getting to know everyone, joking, bantering and slowly becoming friends.

"Hey... if you... don't mind me... asking... What is... your name?" Asked Wispy 

"You have a good point there Wispy buddy! You sir skeleton spent hours giving us nicknames since we can't give you our names, yet you forgot to give us your own!" quipped Glasses.

"Yes, Mr Skeleton we need to know your name!" The kindness child's voice joined who was dubbed Mint or Minty since their magic was such a lovely green colour.

The skeleton glitched, then he paused with his eyebrows scrunched together 'What _was_ his name?' He contemplated just making one up on the spot, but then he remembered. He can get a nickname from the voices, just like he'd been giving them ones!

"I don't hAve a naMe, at LeAst nOt oNE i RemEMber..." he quietly told them.

"Awww! We gotta give you a nickname then!!" Said another child with much vigour in his voice, this one was called Tiger.

And so it quickly grew into a debate on what to call the amazing skeleton.

"Why not call him Liberator of loneliness?"

"That's too long of a name! No one is gonna call him Liberator dude"

"Just shorten it to like Lib, buddy!"

"What the hell! No! that's like indirectly calling him fat! That's WAY worst than Liberator!"

"Okay what about another nickname, uhhh I don't knoww.... something about his appearance? Like Glitchy?"

The skeleton in question quietly listened to the debate on what to call him. 

At some point, they started to list off random aspects of his physical appearance. He got a bit self-conscious when they mentioned the apparently permanent tearstains, adorned his cheeks. He thought he got them all when he was whipping his cheeks. 

He reached up to his cheeks with his left hand to brush the faded lines on them. However, his hands caught on something that felt string like "..?"

He quickly pulled his hand away, in an attempt to free his hand from the stringy substance. But instead, it stretched. He muttered a quiet 'What the hell?', as he stared at the blue strings that were connected to each phalange.

The glowing royal blue strings were still connected to his cheek. The more he pulled his hand away, the further they stretched. Then he brought his right hand to the right side of his jaw bone. The tips of its fingers bearly glazing his right cheek and rested his skull on it, concern was the main expression on his face. 'How???'

He decided to examine the strings connected to his left hand. He brought his right hand to tug on them when he noticed the same blue strings starting to stretch and follow it from his right cheek.

"UhhHhHhHH...." He stared at his multicoloured hands and the strings connected to them. Then he tried to break them by tugging on them, however, they only extended in length. 

At this point, they were long enough to reach his knees. Thankfully this wasn't painful for him, or he would be freaking out way more. 

The next logical reaction was to, of course, step on them and lift his hands above his head. Yet again they only extended, this was starting to freak him out just a little bit "UhHhHhhHHhh...!"

The debate on his name still went on strong, not noticing his distress at all. It seemed the voices had managed to make a list of potential candidates. Now they just had to narrow it down.

As they did that, he accidentally made the strings stretched further, now reaching the length of five feet, in other words, a whopping length of one and a half meters!

So then he grabbed two fistfuls of the strings and made a circular motion with his hands. With this, they were firmly secured to his palms.

Once again he stepped on the looped part of the string, this time with only one foot.

The other end that was in his hand, he pulled over his shoulder. He now pulled twice as hard, leaning his whole weight into the string, which wasn't much considering he was a skeleton.

The strings unsurprisingly didn't care much for the added force and just stretched further.

Of course, this meant that the gravity that was supposed to be helping the skelly turned on him. He let out an unholy screech as he faceplanted onto the milky white floor, like a champ.

The Great Name Committee was now down to three names when they heard him screech. They assumed it was at one of the comments on how he should be named 'Betelgoose'. So they promptly threw that one out of the metaphorical window.

After taking a few deep breaths, he attempted to get up, but he quickly realised that was impossible, as the string got tangled with his legs.

Turning himself so that he was now in an awkward sitting position, he started to mess with the string further, in an attempt to free at least one of his appendages.

As he worked with the string it doubled in size, now covering his hands along with the stings that were already connected to them.

When he stopped messing with it and pulled away, he realised that it got stuck in between his writs joint.

Not learning his lesson, he started to wrestle the string further. Pulling, pushing, anything, just for the chance of escaping the stringy prison that slowly began to surround him.

By now the voices have started to quiet down as they settled on a name.

After a minute or two, he looked like a caterpillar, the strings completely encompassed him, except where they started at his face. 

With his panic at the maximum, he let out a loud shrilled screech " ** _A͖̰̪ͦ͞A̫͍̭̥͈͗̈́͡À̮̩̤̤̯̪̙̿̌̚͘ą̦͖̲͈̻̼͈̖̅ͨ̈a̶͖̲̪̣̾ͅa̛̙̝͕̩̣̬͚͒̉ͩÁ͍̮͘Ȧ̮͈̩̼̙̩̲̞̐̇͜a͓͎̗͚̬̍͑̅̊͡A̠̜̩͌ͤ͠A̯͈͈͚̤͛̇͗̀ͅÁ̶̖͍Ạ̤̲̻͖͖̄ͮͥ̿̀Ā̖̼̲͍̞͙̚͢ͅa͆̒̌҉͙̺̺̼̳̪A̛͓̪̭ͭ̓̍̚A̶̰̣̦̘͌̋Ȁ̊̚͏̻̺̘͓̯̖̻͚A̧͇̬͍̮̦̠̹̔̈́ͤ̌Ą͎̭̩͉̪̼̆a̵̺̦̪̣̫̳͚ͬ̅͌ͅA̲̘̖͙͓̅ͭ͂̋͡A͙̩̞͕̱̣͇̋̚͟Ã̓̓͏̜̦̤̮͍aͪ҉͈͕̫̟͚͇̝͉Å̭̺͉̉͊͢ͅͅa̬̙̰̘̬͖͍̽̾͟ͅA̸̘͎̬̬̾̅̆̚a̪̳̞̜̠̼̤͈ͦ͢Aͬ̐ͨ҉̮̮̱Ą̲̭̣̖͖͍̤ͭÅ̟̘̮̺̺͖̇̀A̛͓̱͓̬̮ͯ̋̿ͮA̸̪̹̘̭ͬ̾͋A͍̱̝̘̹ͬ͋͡Ấ̡̪̣̥̙̊A̴͖͉̬̓̍̋̚A̴͖̩̠͈̻̖̘͖ͫ̽̓a̴̖̘̹͍̘̍͛ͅa̵̻̞̲̜̱̲̪͋͑̃͛A̸̙̘̫̳̙̞̓̏A̷̮͈̯̳͓ͣ̄ͪẠ̸͈͇ͥ͐͒̓a̴͇̰̭̩̯ͭͭ̀ͅA̎ͫ͏̱̼̗͖̬͉̲͚A̝̤̝̒̅̎̀a̭͙͍͓͖̒̓͐̋͘Ḁ͙͈̰ͭͤ̀͢"_**

With it, he instantly gained the attention of all of the voices. Who of course, started to laugh at his predicament.

"Wԋყ t𝓱乇 千𝓾nķ ａ尺乇 үᗝ𝓾 ℓａ𝓾𝑔𝓱ιภ𝑔 ａt 𝓂乇?! he shrieked at them. Which only spurred them on further.

Then he once again tried to get out of the strings hold. He wiggled around desperately, punching and kicking at them, but doing little damage.

The voices only laughed harder at the skeleton but, when they realised he was actually stuck and that they had no way to get him out, they started to panic along with him.

"EVERYONE!! CHILL. THE. FUCK. OUT!" Yelled Tepo, thoroughly done with everyone's shit.

And this surprisingly worked, even the skeleton stilled his wiggling on the floor.

"Thank you, Avery can you take over? I think my bullshit meter has reached maximum capacity." Grumbled Tepo.

The familiar respect demanding voice answered quickly "Yes I will, thank you Tepo."

"Now, how did you manage that?" they asked the dark boned skelly.

"DO i LoOk lIKE I WoUld KnOw?" Said the glitch starting to give up on getting out of the string. 

"Okay, okay, calm down Buddy. We'll get you out, don't even worry about it!"

"Yo homies, anyone got any ideas on how to calm down sentient sting?" Said Capone in the most sarcastic voice imaginable.

Surprisingly it was a child that answered "It's not sentient, dummy! It's magic!" laughed Flint, like this was common knowledge.

Timidly Glasses tried to correct him "Hate to break it to ya Buddy. But that's a bit far fetched, magic doesn't exis-" however, they were cut off by another child "Yes it does!" Yelled Admiral with complete honesty in their voice.

"No it do-" Glasses tried to argue but were this time cut off by a merigolden shove to their soul fragment "Stop talking nonsense Glasses! It does exist! Monsters have it! And mages too!" annoyingly said yet another child, Sepia.

Glasses, completely done with being cut off then grumbled "Mmmk Buddies, whatever you say. If it does 'exist' then help Mr Strings over here."

Surprisingly or not, yet another child, this one called Clay spoke up, suddenly very excited "IT'S SUPER COOL AND SUPER EASY!! You just gotta focus on the magic inside the string and cut it off at its roots!" they said like their excited tone can make the action easier to do.

Still, the glitchy skeleton, that learned not too long ago that he had a soft spot for children tried- "OH! and close your eyes! It helps you focus on the pretty magic!" Clay added.

And so the skeleton obeyed. Closing his eyes and relaxing his body as much as he could while being in a stringy cocoon, he breathed in... and out... and nothin-

Then he felt as if he had opened his eyes even when they stayed firmly shut. At first, he saw a soft sky blue glow that shined in the darkness. As he focused on it, it started to shine brighter, little streams of magic that flowed all around him. As his vision of the magic flow sharpened he could pick out the magics colour. At first, it only looked like neon blue. On closer inspection, however, there were multiple colours dancing around. The most prominent were cyan and lapis blue that intertwined with a beautiful golden yellow. If you looked at a spot for long enough, you'd see a flash of red, rarely even green, purple and sometimes the slightest flickers of orange.

All of it was very pretty, to say the least.

Then the skeleton decided he should at least attempt to not get distracted by the 'pretty magic' and find the root of the flow of magic.

After he managed to 'cut it off at its roots!' he opened his eyes.

He found the cocoon of sting slowly breaking away into smaller bits until there was nothing left to keep him on the floor.

He sprung up onto his feet yelling "Yesss! FreEdoOoOmm!!!!"

The moment he did, the kids all coursed their own 'I told you so's to Glasses who tried to fool them into thinking that they were none the wiser 'I knew that' they said.

And so time went on with the glitchy skeleton learning how to utilize his strings. He learned how to summon them without blinking, how to make them bend to his will in every way, shape or form. 

He learned at some point that there actually was a ceiling in the Anti-Void but it was very far up. He found out it was there when he was testing how far he could stretch his string by throwing them out towards the top of the endless whiteness.

Back then he thought it was towards the 'sky' of the anti-void, but when his strings hit the top and started to fall down prematurely to their usual time spent falling without them stretching to their full length, he realised it was indeed a 'ceiling'.

And since then he's been trying to figure out how to get the strings to stay on it. That was easier said than done. There was nothing to tie the strings to so he had to improvise. 

Slowly he learned how to change the property of his string, stick? non-stick? metal-like? soft? those were a few of the many properties of the string he learned to shift. He realised that magic was all about intent and emotional stability.

He wanted it to stay? 

It would.

He wanted it to disappear?

It would.

The more he got used to the strings, the more he liked to play around with them. At one point when he was still testing the limits of his magical blue string, he tripped and fell over while running which, in turn, made three knitting needles fall out of one of the hidden pockets in his black and blue coat, he's still trying to figure out which pocket it was.

At that point in time he had no clue on what they were used for, but now? With some fidgeting around and pointer from the voices but mostly Tepo. He figured out their use, and it turned out that he was a natural at knitting.

So he spent most of his time knitting, talking to the voices and trying to find a permanent stick solution for the strings. Sure they would be sticky for a bit, but they wouldn't actually stay sticky.

As more time passed and more experimenting took place, he learned with the voices, that he could open portals. At first, he learned how to make onesided portals, through which he could look, but others couldn't look back.

That's where he first saw it.

Undertale #1

Timeline 1

He watched the beings interact, watched as the 'human' progress, and as he watched the ending of the story, he couldn't think about anything else but wanting them to be happy. He continued to watch, even when the ending left a bittersweet feeling as he saw Asriel reverted back into Flowey but the rest of the monsters kind was free on the surface.

The voices also enjoyed the story.

Some cheered on Frisk in their endeavour to spare everyone. Others gave sarcastic remarks as to how that was 'impossible' to spare everyone, that they should just listen to Flowey. 

They were the ones that cheered them on the hardest in the end battle.

And then he found more, many more.

One was with the same set of characters as Undertale but they were meaner and guarded. The mantra Flowey usually repeated held true for them, it was a rule they lived by. A true 'Kill or be Killed' World. 

Underfell

The next one was again with the same set of characters, but they were swapped. Papyrus was the lazy laid back brother and Sans the energetic one. The human progressing through the underground was Chara, and Flowey was swapped with Temmie.

Underswap

He fell in love with each of the AUs.

Their aspects, their personality, he wanted to know everything about them, explore everything, befriend everyone.

But he couldn't.

He was told that if he interfered with the AUs, it could endanger them, which could lead to their eventual collapse and the death of everyone in them.

He didn't want that! Of course, he didn't! Why would he? They were all so amazing and special in their own way.

As he watched, he saw another au, this one was further from the rest, more secluded.

There were two brothers in that AU, brothers by bond not by blood. But they loved each other deeply non the less.

That was one of the AUs he often found himself and the voices coming back to and watching. Wanting to comfort the brothers, and help them talk things out with the other.

It was hard, not being able to interfere, for better or for worse.

Besides the brothers, there was another skeleton that was fun to watch

Ink

The creator, the protector.

He was a particular, colourful skeleton, that liked to drink from these vials of colourful substance that made his eyelights shift in colour and shape. He got himself in all sorts of trouble, making friends and making enemies where he went. 

As he watched him, the glitchy skeleton wanted that for himself, even if he knew he couldn't have it. 

Because

Was it forbidden to dream? Of a perfect world where he could make friends with the people he watched? To laugh together? Cry together?

Besides that, he was pretty content with his life. Watching different but similar people, perform the same story again and again. Each character adding their own unique flavour to it. He told the voices that he didn't have a favourite but secretly, it was the one that popped up not to long ago called Undernovela.

After a while, the ceiling of the anti-void started to get littered with blue string from his experimenting.

Currently, he was standing on one of his scarfs that was about a decimeter wide. On both sides it was connected to the ceiling, making a makeshift swing of sorts. It was a bit unstable, but what's the worst that can happen?

He sat on it, glasses placed on his skull with his hands put to work on a hammock. It was his first time making such a thing, but it was bearable with the help of the voices, and his experience with knitting.

"I'm like 96% sure you're doing the end bits wrong, that looks off..."

"I agree, that's gotta be way to tight"

"Actually, I think that's too lose Bud. We don't want the rope slipping out and having him potentially falling off while in the middle of a nap, or whenever he actually takes one."

"I second that!"

"HOW THE HELL IS IT GONNA FALL OFF IF IT'S TIED IN LIKE FOUR DIFFERENT WAYS???"

"Plus it's stitched together right under that layer."

"No that was the other side!"

Scratch that, it was making it more confusing even if it was a little entertaining to listen to.

"AnYone elSe havE someTHing useful tO aDd?" Said the corporal being, currently working on the main subject of the comments.

"Make it sparkle!"

A glitchy "nO" swiftly ended that attempt at destroying the project's integrity.

"Awwww..."

A few giggles rang out from the listeners. The child started to giggle along with them, then the error-ridden skeleton joined them by letting out his own amused chuckles at their antics.

After they settled down and the glitchy skeleton continued on with his project, however, it seemed that a particularly weird though was plaguing one of the voices, as the suddenly said: "I wonder what would happen if you tried to burn magical string..."

"Maybe it would explode!"

"Or you know, just burn like normal string does"

"Or-! or explode! But like, with glitter'n'stuff!"

"What if it just disappeared? Like, 'Poof' gone?"

"Wait, but what if that's painful for their summoner???"

"Shit, you're right!"

With a huff, the maker of the hammock added his own thought " I woUld test it for yOu, but theRe isn't any Fire arounD to do iT."

"But you're like, destruction incarnated! Can't you just make some??"

This threw the black skeleton for a loop, effectively making him pause his work. "..." He stared at his hands that had some strings ready to be used for the hammock. His expression resembled the emotionless one he wore when he crashed. In reality, it was an expression that held too many emotions at once and being able to show non of them, since they all clashed so violently. The most prominent were: confusion for hearing this for the first time & clarity for he could finally understand why he was advised against leaving unless he wanted to unleash destruction upon the AUs he came to care for.

But at his expressions and movements cessing, the voices started to panic about him crashing again.

"SHIT! DID HE JUST CRASH?! DUDE WHY DID YOU SAY THAT!?"

"Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit!"

"What do we do now?!"

"THE BOX ISN'T POPPING UP!!! WE KILLED HIM!!! AAAAAAAAAA!!!"

But all of that was cessed the moment he spoke up once more.

"I'm whAt?" He all but whispered, the question made the whole atmosphere tense with the chilling look that accompanied it. One very bold Irish voice answered, "Ye'r The destroyer! Ya know? Y'destroy worlds for fun and stuff! Ya'r the Yin part of the balance in the multivers' or sum shait like that!"

This answer seemed to disturb the glitch even more as an uncomfortable amount of errors popped up around him, some gathered near his throat making his voice constantly change in pitch, and choppy to boot. "WhY diD noBoDy teLl me ThIs?" His hands tightened around the strings he was previously using, in a sorry attempt at grounding himself.

His inquiry about why they haven't told him about his role in the multiverse confused the voices. This made many of them spiral into a distressed rant.

"We haven't?"

"Wait what? I swear to god we already told him this!"

"How the _HELL_ did _nobody_ tell him?!"

"Oh shit, oh fuck, oh for god's sake!"

"Wait..shit...that makes... sense"

Taking a sharp intake of air, the skeleton shook some of his discomforts off before his expression darkened. As he looked up from his hands, trying to seem like he's looking at the voices, despite them having no bodies of their own. "How CouLd yOu fOrGEt to tELl mE soMethIng sO iMPortAnt?!" He shook as more glitches appeared around him.

"We didn't mean to!"

"We're sorry!"

"Everyone thought you already knew!"

"We just thought you didn't like talking about it!"

The glitch released his breath, with a sound resembling a growl. "ChEck NeXT tiMe, BefOUre yoU asSumE ShIt!" he warned. He then crossed his arms with a deep frown etched itself onto his face. "Is TheRe anyThiNg eLse You 'foRGoT' tO teLl mE?"

The voices started to murmur to each other. Trying to figure out everything they forgot to tell him and where to start. After a while, they quieted down but no one attempted explaining anything to him. As the heavy silence stretched, the skeleton got more any more antsy. Then someone finally spoke up.

"In layman's terms, yes, you are 'The destroyer", You are fated to bring an ending to many universes." Said Avery, in their most attention-grabbing voice. They paused for a second, to see if anyone would like to continue for them or add something. When they confirmed that no one had anything to say, they continued. "You can open, unravel or edit code. You hold the ability to bring down universes at the flick of a wrist if you choose to do so, then the inhabitants or more specifically everything living will be sent to The Void."

"W̙̟͈̼̝͉ͤ̇͛̉̕H̴͍̞͖͎̖͖͈͌̚ͅa̛̝͎̔T̋̽҉̭̲̲̰̱͎̤ͅ?!" He shot up on his makeshift swing. His hands gripped each side of the swing tightly as a scowl replaced the frown. 

"WhY tHe _H̝͙̠̞̓͢ͅĚ̤̟̯ͧ͟ͅL͉͍̙̘̲͉̻͕ͪ͟Ḻ̶̣͉̫ͪͦͣ_ wOUld i dEsTroY tHEm AnD KILL ThEM LIKe THeY aRE SoME SorT oF LeSsER bEInGS?! " The skeleton raged in his firm belief, that this was wrong.

Wispy answered, "To... protect... and maintain... the multiverse..." The way it was said, made it look as tho it was normal to commit mass genocide, even if for a greater cause. 

"Hahahaha! With a line like that Wispy, people will be lining up to commit MURDER for you!" Tepo said in a fit of hysteria.

"No, the role you were given is no less fucked up than you think it is" They stated blatantly, making the skeleton flinch slightly. He dug his fingers further into the makeshift swing to restrain himself, and prevent himself from falling to an early demise.

Tepo continued "You get to pick and choose who gets to live and who dies, like some sort of fucked up version of a god!" They snarled.

"Tepo, buddy, you know this isn't his choice. He's fated to do this."

"It's either this or the collapse of the multiverse, dumbass. A few verses all. It makes sense in the grand scheme of things concerning the multiverse."

"WHO HAS THE AUDACITY TO SAY SOMETHING SO BLATNLY STUPID!?" Tepo roared.

"EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE AN EQUAL CHANCE AT LIVING AND DYING! NO ONE SHOULD BE SCARED OF WHETHER IT'S THEIR LAST DAY, OR IF THEY WILL DISAPPEAR AND NEVER BE REMEMBERED! THEY SHOULDN'T LIVE IN FEAR THAT SOMEONE WILL SUDDENLY SHOW UP, AND DESTROY EVERYTHING THEY EVER LOVED AND CARED ABOUT!"

"STOP BEING SO SELFISH!" Wispy screamed at Tepo. They weren't used to being so loud, so when they continued, their voice was raspy from their sudden abuse. "it isn't... that... simple...a-and you...know...it" they bearly got out.

"It's not like there's consequences for not killing people _Wispy._ " Tepo spit the name out like it brought a bad taste to their mouth.

Wispy was quick to retort "Y-you... don't... know... t-that..." their voice was getting worse, but they persevered anyway "T-they... tol-tol-"

And another voice came to back them up after their noticeable struggle "If you weren't so self-centred about your dam beliefs _Tepo_ then you'd remember we know the consequences!" Capone yelled. It took the skeleton an embarrassing amount of time to recognised their voice since it held none of its usual flare.

"Then what are the consequences of not murdering countless people?! A happy family?! Ooh noooo! They're happy! They definitely deserve death!~" Tepo quickly deflected with thick sarcasm.

Capone didn't like their tone, it seems they reached a boiling point as they screamed "ONE UNIVERSE WHERE EVERYONE CAN GET A PAINLESS DEATH OR A CHAIN REACTION THAT LEAVES EVERYONE IN THE VOID! YOU FUCKING MORON! IT'S THAT SIMPLE!"

This made even Tepo pause "...", but they tried again anyway hopeless as it might seem "T-there has to be a way..."

But Capone wasn't one to give false hope, "I'm sorry homie, but there isn't.."

The skeletons eye light went out. Then, in the clearest voice, they've ever heard him speak, he stated: "No" 

He continued "I refuse to take part in daylight murder even if there is no one left to hold me accountable." There was no room for arguments in his statement.

"Y-you'll...ha-have...t-to..." Wispy struggled out.

This time it was Glasses that jumped in to assist Wispy. "Buddy, I know you're upset, trust me we all are but there doesn't seem to be any other way from keeping the multiverse from overcrowding."

"It's wrong, but you have to kill" a voice resigned

"It's okay! We know you don't want to!" a child chirped

"People say knowledge is power, but I think in this scenario it's constraining" smartly stated Avery.

And so, the previous light-heartedness got smothered by a heavy and solemn air. It felt like they were all mourning losses before there was any to speak of.

The skeleton, all be it reluctantly sat down and continued with the hammock. His hands felt heavy with newly added weight to them.

When he finished, he called for some of the strings already connected to the ceiling and tie them to himself. As he took control of them, he swiftly picked up the now finished hammock and searched for a place to put it. When he inevitably found it, he called for more strings, these were noticeably thicker than the rest. He went on to tie them around the front and the back loops. As he worked on the elaborate knots that tied the thick string to the hammock, you wouldn't know what shape it was supposed to resemble, however, when he finished, it looked like a beautiful rose in full bloom with a pattern on each side, and three 'leaves' poking out in random places. Then he moved on to the next one.

A quiet voice broke the heavy silence to ask "So... What are you going to do?"

The glitch paid them no mind as he continued to secure the hammock. It seems that he was lost in his own thoughts. "HmMm...?"

"Since we told you everything, you have been very quiet. You haven't really shared any opinion on the matter after your blatant refusal to take part in daylight murder, so what's your plan? How are you going to avoid destroying universes?"

"It never should come to it if the multiverse never gets crowded right?"

"Yes but what if-"

The error paused "Worrying about what-ifs isn't the best way to live one's life. Live in the moment and take things one step at a time and you might save yourself a headache or two..." he continued on the 'leaf' he was working on. "Besides, if it does come to it... I don't really have a choice do I?" he gave a bittersweet chuckle.

The voice had nothing to rebut that "..."

"Perhaps that is the best way to go about this" they agreed.

As he finished securing the hammock he called the voices to watch him test it.

With the strings from the ceiling still firmly attached to him, he sat down. It stretched under his weight, making him pause for a moment and waiting nervously for something to snap. Then with a burst of bravery, he sat down completely. It was very comfortable and gave him a sense of security. Feeling braver, he lied down on it and slowly let the strings holding him untie. It is actually so sturdy, that he could even jump on it or if shifting the strings a bit, use it as a swing without any issues.

The hammock quickly became his favourite place to knit while talking to the voices and watching Undernovela, or just checking on other universes.

They eventually talked more about the whole 'Distruction incarnated' situation and the solution to it.

He shared his opinion on it all and most of the voices agreed on his choice. Of course, there were a few naysayers.

"If the multiverse collapses it's gonna be _your_ fault, for not doing shit about it"

"How the fuck can you even be so certain that you know how much space there is left?!"

"Why wait for shit to starts collapsing?! You should destroy now! Not when it's too _little_ too _late_!

Thankfully they were a minority and their divided opinion did not make them meaner or hateful overall, just a bit snarkier.

The voices also divided in what they called him since the name they chose for him in 'The great name debate' was quickly forgotten because of the situation that happened after it. The ones that were good friends with him, and shared his opinion on the whole destruction situation called him Strings. The ones that disagreed called him Error. Not in disrespect or to spite him. It was just the easiest to remember since they tended to not interact much with him.

He didn't mind either and adopted both, calling himself Strings Error. Tho he did think of Error as more of a surname than a second name.

So from his hammock he watched, he watched as one universe turned into four, and four into twenty and on and on. After a while, he began to notice that the multiverse was getting crowded as he spied on Ink and his Doodle Sphere.

With that, he realised that he won't be able to escape his fate as a destroyer.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the read. I'm doing my best to do Error justice because let's be honest, he's epic!
> 
> And I know not everyone likes gay or poly relationships, but hey, nobody asked you to read this.


End file.
